Hope ↠ LOTR

XIV. Broken

Their heads whipped over in the direction of the sound of the Horn that shook them to their cores.

"The Horn of Gondor," Legolas stated what they all knew.

"Boromir," Aragorn added on before rushing forwards and past the Elf to get to their friend in need.

Athena wasted no time in following after him, the Uruk-hai also heading towards the blaring sound. She clashed swords with one of the malformed creatures before letting out a grunt when she fought back against it and sliced her sword along its abdomen, not taking a break before she darted off again in desperation to get to Boromir. The roaring Horn was heard again and she ducked underneath the arm of an Uruk-hai before spinning around and slicing off its head, Aragorn beside her as they fought through the masses of their enemies with the Horn continuously resounding through the trees.

She sprinted through the open air and when an Uruk-hai appeared in front of her she barreled into him, her sword embedding itself into its chest when they went plummeting to the ground from the force of the collision. She stumbled forwards, the sword sliding out of the deceased monster and she continued to make her way towards Boromir with Aragorn close behind her.

The first thing that she saw when she reached the scene was Boromir on his knees, three arrows protruding from his torso with the Uruk-hai that was giving out orders earlier poised in front of him, an arrow pointing straight at him and ready to finish the job.

"No!" She screamed and rushed forwards, but Aragorn was faster and had already tackled him to the ground.

Aragorn fought against him and within a matter of seconds he was pinned to the tree with the two-pronged shield of the Uruk-hai pinning him into place. The large beast snarled and raised his bulky weapon before bringing it down onto him but it did not meet the man as he had anticipated it would, instead it met the sword that Athena wielded. Normally her arms would have crumbled beneath the strength of the blow but for some reason—and she assumed it was the sword gifted to her from Galadriel—she was able to hold off the attack until Aragorn freed himself from the shield.

He sent a blow to the stomach of Lurtz but it did no damage and instead he was flung to the ground along with Athena who could no longer hold her own against the beast. Lurtz sent a blow to Aragorn but he swiftly rolled to the side and sent a kick to his stomach before plunging a dagger into his leg. Lurtz roared out as the blade pierced him and pried Aragorn away from him, throwing him to the ground. While the two of them were fighting Athena had pushed herself to stand up and as soon as her brother collided with the ground she launched an attack at the Uruk-hai, but he saw it coming and grasped her swinging arm before briskly headbutting her and sending her reeling back to lie on the floor beside her brother.

She rapidly blinked to clear away the dark spots in her vision, wheezing as the air was knocked out of her from the fall. She turned onto her stomach and pressed her hands into the dirt before pushing herself up to sit on her knees, watching Lurtz pull the dagger from his leg and lick away the blood with bile rising in her throat from the disgusting display.

He threw the dagger at Aragorn but it was deflected by his sword before he stood and threw himself into battle once more, their swords clashing against one another while Athena was trying to find hers that had flown from her hand when she was thrown to the side like a ragdoll. She found it hidden amongst some leaves, quickly grasping it into her hand and standing up. When she looked back at the two engaged in combat she hadn't expected to see Aragorn's sword in the Uruk-hais stomach, and she definitely didn't expect to see the Uruk-hai pulling it further inside himself with a snarl. The male Ranger grimaced at his actions before pulling out the sword and mightily swinging it in front of him, decapitating Lurtz and causing his headless body to collapse to the ground.